


That Word Doesn't Mean What You Think It Means

by Flangst



Series: Stonegrot Week 2020 [2]
Category: The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (TV)
Genre: Cannibalism, Day 6, Don't Take This Too Seriously, F/M, Horror, Humor, OOC, Podlings, Stonegrot Week, Stonegrot Week 2020, podling village, podlings are probably tasty though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:08:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26313937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flangst/pseuds/Flangst
Summary: Hup wanted to become a Paladin, but what if there was another reason he left his village?...
Relationships: Deet/Rian (Dark Crystal)
Series: Stonegrot Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1909327
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	That Word Doesn't Mean What You Think It Means

“This is it, Rian! Hup’s village!” 

The tiny town nestled within a grove of trees opened up before the two Gelflings. Podling homes were nestled against massive tree trunks and clustered together in pod-shaped structures. Mushrooms, giant flowers, and all manner of plants grew between the homes and alongside the paths. And there were, of course, Podlings everywhere.

Deet wished Hup had wanted to come along. Rian had proposed a few unum ago that they go to the nearby Podling villages and try to recruit whoever they could to the Resistance. When they asked Hup to show them his village, he’d suddenly become nervous and evasive, unwilling to do so. He’d finally scribbled out a map for them, but refused to return to his village under any circumstances. She wondered why. Maybe he was an outcast because he’d chosen to leave? Or maybe something embarrassing had happened when he was younger and he didn’t want to go back. Well, at least they’d still found it. 

The Podlings began to take notice of them and gather around the Gelfings, chattering and pointing. Deet recognized some words, but for the most part the Podlings spoke their own language. Rian looked a little overwhelmed by all the attention. Deet giggled; it was a cute look on him.

“Hello! Um, we’re from the Resistance?” she greeted the Podlings. Most of them looked confused, but a couple of them nodded in recognition, so at least a few Podlings here could understand the Gelfling language. 

“Er, we’re friends of Hup,” she added. 

She’d never seen a group of people change their tone so quickly. Each Podling in the crowd grew pale and began to look panicked, glancing around themselves frantically as though Hup was about to jump out at him. Nervous chattering spread through the group.

“Whoa, whoa! No, friends of Hup! Friends, he’s our friend! Not enemies!”

That didn’t reassure them in the least. Some of them screamed outright and ran into their homes, and one in a blue cap pointed at Rian and began shouting “Justica! Justica!”

“No, no, Hup is, um, justica, not us. No, we’re Gelfings, from the Resistance! I’m sure you’ve heard of it…” Rian trailed off, looking helpless. Deet took pity on him and approached the shouting Podlings. Maybe there had been some misunderstanding.

“What’s wrong? Do you not like Hup?” she asked gently, trying to calm the poor creature down. The Podling took a breath, shaking his head frantically. Deet frowned. Hup had never been anything but loyal, brave, and the best friend anyone could ask for in her experience. Perhaps this Podling had him confused with someone else.

“But… Hup is a very brave Podling. He became a paladin. He’s helped us fight the Skesis.”

The Podling shook his head again. “No, no, justica. Hup Podling justica.” The little creature pulled off his cap, and Deet gasped. The Podling had a chunk missing from his head, although he’d been bitten by some vicious animal, but smoother, like someone had just taken a scoop out of his skull. “Justica. Bad. Bad Hup.”

“I don’t understand… you were attacked?”

“Yes, yes!” The Podling replaced his hat, nodding firmly.

“By… Hup?”

He nodded again. Deet shook her head. That couldn’t be true.

“That’s impossible. Hup would never do something like that. Are you sure it was him?”

The Podling sighed in irritation. He gestured to some of his fellows and they willingly began disrobing (Rian looked less than excited about this), revealing similar scoop-shaped injuries. One was missing some fingers on his right hand. In fact, the more Deet looked around, the more she realized that almost every Podling here had at least one scoop injury. 

“Wait, you’re saying Hup did this to you!” Rian seemed just as bewildered. Deet felt a note of fear. What in Thra was going on? What had happened between these people and Hup?

“Justica! Justica! Bad Hup!” Other Podlings began chanting it. 

“Deet, um, what does justica mean?”

“I don’t know. I always assumed it meant ‘justice!’” she said, only now realizing that Hup had never explained what the word meant. She’d just assumed, based on his personality and his obsession with becoming a paladin, that the word had meant something in that association. “Excuse me,” she asked the blue-hatted Podling, “what does that word mean?”

“Justica mean…” He looked around nervously and gestured for her to come closer, as if it was some big secret. She obliged. “Podling that… eat other Podlings. Like… monster! Justica!”

Deet almost laughed, but the look on the little creature’s face was dead serious. Deet felt her stomach drop. “Are you… serious?”

The fellow nodded. “Hup attack Grop! Eat Grop’s head! Eat Yaboo’s fingers! Eat Gengel’s son! Hup… banished!” The female Podling that must have been Gengel began to sob inconsolably. 

Deet couldn’t believe it. All this time, her first friend on the surface world had been hiding a horrifying secret. Had he cooked anything for her recently? She struggled to remember. Had he served her chunks of dead Podling and she hadn’t even noticed? What did that make her? 

No wonder he’d refused to come to the village with them. Hup wasn’t a Podling hero at all. 

Hup... was a murderer. A justica. A Podling cannibal.

**Author's Note:**

> Justica: A Podling who kills and serves his fellow Podlings as food, usually in the form of a hearty stew or a salty fried snack.


End file.
